Ohio Gov. John Kasich has signed bills into law that shield the names of companies providing lethal injection drugs, regulate traffic cameras and allow hunters to use noise suppressors under certain conditions.

The governor also signed bills that put in place sweeping changes to municipal tax collection, regulate teen use of tanning beds and create a three-day back-to-school sales tax holiday next August.

The bills were among 40 signed Friday by Kasich following the Legislature’s lame-duck session.

The Ohio Senate is considering a bill that would shield the names of companies providing lethal injection drugs to the state for at least two decades.

The measure requires a drugmaker to specifically ask for anonymity, rather than receive it automatically, under an agreement that would allow release of the company’s name 20 years after it last provides drugs to the state.

Republic Rep. Jim Buchy of Greenville in western Ohio is one of the bill sponsors. He told the Senate Criminal Justice Committee on Tuesday that Ohio has run out of options for buying drugs for injections.

The anonymity is aimed at so-called compounding pharmacies that mix doses of specialty drugs.

A fast-moving bill would shield the names of companies whose drugs are used for lethal injections in Ohio, but its Republican sponsor says he's open to allowing the secrecy provision to expire at some point in the future.

Attorney General Mike DeWine says he thinks new laws are needed before executions can resume in Ohio.

DeWine says the state needs a law that would shield the identity of pharmacies making a specialized dose of a lethal drug.

DeWine, a Republican running for re-election, said Monday during a Gannett editorial board meeting that a law is also needed to provide immunity to doctors who provide “legal support” in the execution process such as consulting on drug dosage amounts.

Executions are on hold until February after a federal judge temporarily stopped them as questions mounted about the effectiveness of Ohio’s new, two-drug execution process.

A spokesman for DeWine’s Democratic opponent, David Pepper, says future legislative proposals on the death penalty should get thorough and thoughtful consideration.

A leading expert witness for states defending their lethal injection methods has ended his role, creating another potential hurdle for Ohio and other states scrambling to find workable execution systems.

A leading expert witness for states defending their lethal injection methods has ended his role, creating another potential hurdle for Ohio and other states scrambling to find workable execution systems.

Mark Dershwitz, a University of Massachusetts anesthesiologist and pharmacologist, was the witness called by Ohio in support of its new two-drug combination that led to a troubling 26-minute execution in January.

The same drug combination led to a nearly two-hour execution in Arizona last month.

Dershwitz has provided expert opinions for 22 states and the federal government over the past decade. He announced in June that he would no longer do so, saying he didn’t want to risk his professional license.

The news comes as states are running out of execution drugs and having difficulty finding alternatives.

The one-page order by Columbus federal judge Gregory Frost issued Friday affects the state's latest death penalty policy change, which was announced in late April and increases the amount of the sedative and painkiller Ohio uses.

A federal judge has extended a months-long moratorium on executions in Ohio as debate over the state’s new two-drug combination continues.

The moratorium was to end this week. The new order extends it through Jan. 15.

That will delay executions scheduled for September, October and November and highlights the ongoing problem faced by states in obtaining drugs to put inmates to death.

The one-page order by Columbus federal judge Gregory Frost issued Friday affects the state’s latest death penalty policy change, which was announced in late April and increases the amount of the sedative and painkiller Ohio uses.

On Jan. 16, an Ohio inmate repeatedly gasped during the record 26 minutes it took him to die, and an Arizona inmate who took nearly two hours to die July 23.

Ohio said it is increasing the dosage of the lethal injection drugs used to put condemned inmates to death.

The state said it is boosting the amount of the two-drug combo of a sedative and painkiller “to allay any remaining concerns” after the last execution, when an inmate made repeated snorting-like gasps as he died during his Jan. 14 execution.

The Department of Rehabilitation and Correction spokeswoman JoEllen Smith said, “After the review, the Department remains confident that it conducted the execution in a humane, constitutional way and that the inmate was completely unconscious and felt no pain.”

In an email, Smith went on to say, “After speaking with the Department’s medical expert, examining other states’ practices and considering the recommendations of the inmate’s medical expert, the Department finds no harm in increasing the dosage levels of its drugs and has notified Judge Frost of this revision.”

The state’s policy change comes 30 days before the next scheduled execution on May 28, when a man convicted of killing a Cleveland produce vendor in 1983 is set to die.

McGuire’s 26-minute execution was the longest since Ohio resumed putting inmates to death in 1999.